A new study that screened children in one South Korean city every year for more than a decade found that autism rates stayed flat across 12 consecutive birth cohorts. The researchers concluded that rising diagnosis numbers likely reflect better detection rather than more children developing autism.
The findings, published Sept. 14 in JAMA Pediatrics, arrive amid repeated claims from federal health leaders, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., that the United States faces an autism epidemic. For parents, the practical meaning is less about the national debate and more about whether a child who needs an evaluation gets one.
